# English 2001: Strontium isotopes reveal distant sources of architectural timber in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

> Nathan B. English, Julio L. Betancourt, Jeffrey S. Dean et al., 2001. 10 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The first isotopic sourcing of Chaco…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D9KT3D01V6X/strontium-isotopes-reveal-distant-sources-of-architectural  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Great houses of Chaco Canyon](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon)English 2001

**0**

# Strontium isotopes reveal distant sources of architectural timber in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Nathan B. English, Julio L. Betancourt, Jeffrey S. Dean et al., 2001. _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(21): 11891-11896_.

Compares 87Sr/86Sr in spruce and fir construction beams with living trees in the surrounding ranges and finds the beams came from the Chuska and San Mateo (Mount Taylor) mountains, 75 to 100 km away, but not from the equally close San Pedro Mountains, with logs from both sources in the same room and year by AD 974.

**Great houses of Chaco Canyon** Articledoi: **[10.1073/pnas.211305498](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.211305498)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The first isotopic sourcing of Chaco timber.

## Cited by on this site 10 records

[Most construction timber came from the Chuska, Zuni and Mount Taylor ranges, 75 km or more away, with the…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/answers/ANS0D9KV5TJ0KRJ/most-construction-timber-came-from-the-chuska-zuni-and-mount)

Answer

ANS

[Strontium isotope ratios of Chaco construction beams and source-area trees](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0D9KVA767ZTW/strontium-isotope-ratios-of-chaco-construction-beams-and)

Dataset

DAT

[All the great-house timber and much other material was brought from 75 to 100 km away.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KTVAM1X4N/all-the-great-house-timber-and-much-other-material-was)

Evidence

EVD

[More than 200,000 beams were carried from mountains 75 to 100 km away.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KV1641ZFJ/more-than-200-000-beams-were-carried-from-mountains-75-to)

Evidence

EVD

[Spruce and fir beams match the Chuska and San Mateo (Mount Taylor) ranges by strontium, not the San Pedro…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KV62C27YR/spruce-and-fir-beams-match-the-chuska-and-san-mateo-mount)

Evidence

EVD

[Beams from the Chuska and Mount Taylor ranges are used in the same room and year](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/events/EVT0D9KTM083CT4/beams-from-the-chuska-and-mount-taylor-ranges-are-used-in)

EVT

[English and colleagues source Chaco timber by strontium isotopes](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/events/EVT0D9KTQ5T7QVD/english-and-colleagues-source-chaco-timber-by-strontium)

EVT

[Nathan B. English](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/people/FIG0D9KTHJ45R5B/nathan-b-english)

FIG

[The great houses of Chaco Canyon](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon)

The mystery article

MYS

[Where did the great-house timbers come from?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/questions/QST0D9KTTBC2PDT/where-did-the-great-house-timbers-come-from)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
English, N. B., Betancourt, J. L., Dean, J. S., & Quade, J. (2001). Strontium isotopes reveal distant sources of architectural timber in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(21): 11891-11896. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.211305498
```

[Read it free at doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.211305498)

Key

**SRC** 0D9KT3D01V6X

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D9KT3D01V6X/strontium-isotopes-reveal-distant-sources-of-architectural/csl.json)